YouTube Beauty Gurus

by Anya Andronov – McRoberts Secondary, Richmond BC Nov 18, 2010

If you’re a fellow YouTube addict like me, you have probably come across a “YouTube Beauty Guru.”

For those who’ve never heard of them before, a YouTube Beauty Guru isn’t exactly what it sounds like. While some are qualified professionals who can offer expertise advice, most consist of ordinary girls (or guys for that matter) who sit down in front of their camera and show their viewers everything they know about beauty, fashion and makeup.

Due to the overwhelming number of beauty videos on YouTube, it has never been easier to find a tutorial for that perfect sultry smoky eye, easy hairstyles, as well as reviews of any beauty product on the market. Lately however, the flood of beauty videos is causing a real stir. Not only in cyberspace, but in real life.

Ever heard of an FTC disclaimer? Standing for Federal Trade Commission, the FTC began enforcing disclaimers in the information box of every beauty video on YouTube disclosing if there are any affiliations between the guru and a company, which appears to be the case in many cases.

A prime example of how a company appears to align itself with a guru is when Good Morning America did an expose about gurus Elle and Blair Fowler (allthatglitters21 & juicystar07), they reported that 24 hours after Elle showed off her glamorous Guess watch to her viewers, the watch not only sold out in every colour, but the abundance of online shoppers even caused the website to crash.

So the question is, were Elle and Blair huge fans of the watch or was their video really a commercial for Guess?

If a company is loyal enough to sponsor a YouTube beauty guru or provide them with free merchandise, it can be hard for the guru to avoid bias be objective about a product. So, a word of advice to the dedicated followers: remember that anyone can say anything, especially on the Internet.

Do your homework before leaping into buying a fancy product. A rave review from a YouTube guru doesn’t necessarily mean it’s worth shelling out money for.

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